Praia, 4 February 2014
President Kagame has arrived in Praia, Cape Verde to attend the annual Africa Innovative Summit.
The summit brings together entrepreneurs, innovators, financiers, policy makers and researchers to conduct an extensive dialogue on innovation in Africa under the theme “Showcasing Africa’s Emerging Innovation Centers”.
President Kagame is expected to deliver a keynote address on Wednesday and will participate in a conversation themed “Leading Innovation in Africa” with the President of Cape Verde, Jorge Carlos de Almeida Fonseca and former Mozambican President, Joaquim Chissano.
Note to editors:
An important part of the summit will be an exhibition featuring important innovations and innovators from around the continent.
The first annual summit is a partnership between the Cape Verdean Government with AfDB, ECOWAS, NEPAD and private companies in the country.
The Summit will focus on the following issues: The Ecosystem of Africa’s Emerging Innovation Centers; Policies to Promote Innovation; Entrepreneurs and Innovation; Financing Innovation and; Educational Systems & Innovation.
Similarly to Rwanda, Cape Verde feature positively in the ease of doing business rankings. In 2013 Rwanda and Cape Verde were among the 10 economies in Sub-Saharan Africa that improved the regulatory environment to starting and operation of local firms.
Just as Rwanda, Cape Verde is also on track to achieve nearly all of its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.